Cheese Soup

Last Updated December 19th, 2022 at 05:52 pm by Lisa

A classic famous Cheese Soup with simple ingredients and extraordinarily deep rich flavors. An easy recipe and one of my favorite things to serve on chilly nights when it's soup time.

The whole family will love the cheesy flavor, you could serve it in bread bowls to make it extra special. Put out lots of toppings like croutons, extra cheese, or crumbled bacon. Serve it hot with homemade Croutons for a hearty and amazing lunch or dinner.

A creamy soup from not one but two kinds of melted cheese. The first time I tasted this recipe was with an entire group of food bloggers. We all wanted the recipe, it was love at first sip. One of the good things is you can whip up this in just 45 minutes for ultimate comfort food in a bowl and love at first spoonful...

How To Make Cheese Soup

• ¼ cup butter
• 1 cup diced yellow onion
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white pepper (or black pepper)
• ½ cup diced carrot
• 1 cup diced celery (6 small ribs)
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 cups chicken broth or chicken stock 32 oz. box or a quart
• 1 cup heavy cream (whipping cream)
• 1 pound cubed Velveeta
• 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (grate it, don't use pre-grated or it won't melt well!)
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley or fresh chopped
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne
• ¼ paprika

Let's Make This Soup!

1. Dice the onions, carrots, and celery. Grate the cheddar cheese, and cube the Velvetta.
2. In a heavy large dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat, melt butter, salt, and pepper. Saute onions, carrots and celery until tender 5 minutes . Stir in flour and cornstarch, cook another 3 minutes.
3. Add chicken stock bone broth (or chicken broth) and heavy whipping cream gradually, blending until smooth about 3-5 minutes.
4. Turn heat down to medium-low, don’t allow soup to boil at any point.
5. Add cubed Velveeta cheese and grated cheddar cheese, stir until melted, about 5 minutes.
6. Add parsley, cayenne, and paprika.
7. Using an immersion blender (stick blender), mix the soup until smooth and creamy. Or blend in a blender in small batches, and be careful it's hot!
8. Simmer on medium-low heat for 20 minutes until it thickens.
9. Serve in bowls or mugs with bread or croutons.
10. Cool this delicious soup leftovers, and keep in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to reheat.

PRO TIP: You can easily turn any leftover soup into a Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe the next day by adding small handfuls of cut broccoli florets and broccoli stems. Blend a few in with your stick blender and reheat on the stove and dinner is ready for a busy weeknight!

Cheddar Cheese Soup Serving

Make it soup time for lunch or main dish for dinner, and a great way is to have lots of toppings...

• croutons
• popcorn
• grate extra cheese
• crusty bread
• bacon crumbles
• roasted pumpkin seeds
• breadsticks (grissini)
• serve in a bread bowl
• toasted baguettes
• hot sauce
• small pieces of fresh broccoli

Crouton shards are amazing floating on this cheesy soup. These are long slices of a crusty baguette, coated with melted butter, parmesan cheese, and seasoning. They are toasted in the oven and are divine with salads and soup.

The Story Of This Cheese Soup Recipe

While on a culinary tour at a food conference, a large group of fun and friendly food bloggers and writers had lunch at The Driskill Hotel (Austin, Texas) in the 1886 Cafe and Bakery, inside The Driskill Hotel.

The Cheese Soup came highly recommended,  so several of us ordered a bowl along with salads and sandwiches. Next time you are in Austin, you have to try this great recipe, if it's the only thing you do at The Driskell.

It really was love at first sip, and we all just couldn't believe how good it tasted. The creamy texture has a slight kick of heat from the cayenne and all the melted cheese makes an incredibly rich soup. We all kinda giggled when we learned it has Velveeta, but that is the secret why it is so creamy and thick.

Of course, I jokingly, yet boldly asked our waitress for the recipe. The giggles and laughter bounced down the table, and then our waitress said, "Of course, we can share the cheese soup recipe with you!" We all looked at one another in pure delight.

Once we received our copies, we again giggled that it had VELVEETA in it, but you know what? It is sooooo creamy and delicious!

Who is Helen Corbitt?

But that isn't the whole story, when I got home, I did some more research and learned that the original Cheese Soup recipe at the Driskell Hotel comes from Helen Corbitt.

Well, Helen Corbitt served as the Culinary Director of the Driskill Hotel in the late 1950s and later as the Head of Culinary Operations at Neiman Marcus.

She is an American chef, cookbook author, and award-winning pioneer of classic Texan Cuisine and is known as the "Julia Child" of Texas.

For over 40 years, Helen shared her gourmet cuisine in Texas finding new and unusual flavor combinations, and ingredients.

How Did Helen Corbitt Impact Texas Cuisine?

An early advocate of using the finest, freshest ingredients and in the years b.c. (before Corbitt), Texans had no artichokes, no fresh raspberries, no herbs except decorative parsley, only beef (chicken-fried, barbecued, or well-done), potatoes (fried or mashed and topped with cream gravy), and wedges of Iceberg with sweet orange dressing.

President and Lady Bird Johnson were served at The Driskill Hotel, and adored Helen's cuisine, and took her recipes all the way to the White House. Today, Helen Corbitt’s Cheese Soup recipe is still on the 1886 Cafe and Bakery Menu for $4 per cup or $6 a bowl.

In her cookbook titled,  Helen Corbitt's Cookbook, Helen states,

"By far the most asked-for soup everywhere I have traveled is my Canadian Cheese Soup. My men, customers are mad about it. Where it comes from I do not know; it has been a part of my life so long it could have come with the stork."

The Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas,  was built-in 1886 as the showplace of cattle baron Jesse Driskill.  Today, the hotel remains a legendary landmark in Texas hospitality offering its guests an elite level of luxury accommodations and services for more than a century.

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